ATLANTA — A retail employee has a collapsed lung after getting stabbed Friday in a violent attempted robbery at Macy's in the Mall of Georgia, Gwinnett County Police said. An officer shot the suspect and they are in custody, according to authorities.
The victim, an employee at Macy's, was severely hurt, police said. An arrest warrant details that the victim's lung collapsed in the stabbing and they are being treated in the hospital.
Police were called to the mall around 11:30 a.m.
Gwinnett Police Sgt. Jennifer Richter, the public information officer, confirmed a Gwinnett officer had shot the suspect as they tried to run away. 11Alive's Cody Alcorn reports police identified the suspect as 27-year-old Jose Reyes-Serratto of Loganville.
The incident began as a robbery attempt inside Macy's, with Reyes-Serratto damaging the jewelry counter with a "crowbar or similar object," police said. Richter said they believe he was trying to get merchandise. When the employee tried to stop him, Reyes-Serratto took out a knife and stabbed the employee several times.
"It was very chaotic," another store employee, who asked not to be identified, said.
She described people running through the store with police trying to calm the crowd. She, along with others who were held there, were allowed to leave about 20 minutes after the incident, she said.
Officers found Reyes-Serratto a distance away from Macy's, near the intersection of Mall of Georgia Boulevard and Financial Center Way.
They said he originally took off in his silver pick-up truck and Gwinnett Police tried to ram into it to stop him. That's when he got out and started running away and a Gwinnett Police officer fired their gun.
Police said Reyes-Serratto was shot and collapsed holding a large knife in his hand.
He was arrested in a nearby grocery store parking lot along Buford Drive and taken to the hospital. Richter said the suspect is stable.
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"It's very heartbreaking cause it's like, no one deserves to be hurt over a material item that you just have to work harder to buy," the Macy's store employee said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said it was initially asked to step in after the gunfire, but that Gwinnett Police had later canceled that request.
The mall was open after Macy's was cleared. Macy's closed its doors for the rest of Friday. It is unclear if it will reopen Saturday.